Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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The road to the Grey Cup will go through Regina.
In a CFL clash on Friday Night, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Toronto Argonauts 27-19 at Mosaic Stadium to improve their record to 12-4 — claiming the top spot in the West Division in front of 27,500 fans.
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“It’s awesome. You want to maximize the regular season and that has been done. Now we get a bonus three weeks to fine-tune ourselves and be who we need to be come Nov. 8,” Riders quarterback Trevor Harris said.
“We will just kind of keep our focus one day at a time and make sure we are improving and make sure we are that team on that date.”
That means the Riders have clinched a first-round bye and will host the CFL West Final on Nov. 8. Saskatchewan last hosted the West Final in 2019.
After the game, defensive lineman Micah Johnson tried to give head coach Corey Mace a Gatorade shower but the former defensive lineman tossed a stiff-arm to avoid it.
“It’s the regular season still. We still have a couple more games,” Mace said. “They did it last year after the first win and after a playoff win. It’s not my thing.”
With the Riders no longer needing wins in the regular season, the team can focus on getting guys healthy for the playoff run.
“Hopefully, we can get some guys back who are dinged up and let some guys rest that need it. That’s first and foremost,” Harris said.
“Teams do it every year, where they win the semifinal and then the final but there is a massive advantage to (hosting the West Final) that you get a prep week where you can sharpen your axe all week and then need to win one home game to get to the show.”
Harris threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns in the contest. Tommy Nield caught one of those scores while Joe Robustelli also scored in the game after being taken out of the starting lineup in recent weeks as guys have gotten healthy.
“It felt good. It’s the next man up mentality and I knew when my number was called, I was going to have to produce because that’s my job and that’s what they expect me to do,” said Robustelli, who had 75 yards in the game.
Sam Emilus had his best game since returning from a foot injury, hauling in six catches for 142 yards.
“The first two games, I ramped myself up a little bit and get back in shape but I can say I am back on track now,” Emilus said.
Emilus, who was drafted in 2022, has only gotten a chance to play in the West Final in Winnipeg, so it feels good to have that game in Regina this year.
“It feels good. Coming in my rookie year, we struggled a little bit so it feels sweet to finally clinch first place in the West,” Emilus said.
Running back AJ Ouellette had another efficient game, rushing for 69 yards in the game.
With Nick Arbuckle being shut down for the season after suffering a shoulder injury, Jarret Doege made his third career CFL start. In the game, he threw for 221 yards and a touchdown, along with an interception.
That interception ended any Argos chance at a comeback as linebacker A.J. Allen came up it.
It was a roller-coaster of emotions as after Allen had the interception, the refs threw a flag which appeared like it was going to be for roughing the passer, but it was ultimately picked up.
“I was so excited then I was so sad and then so excited,” Allen said. “I couldn’t believe he threw it, especially because the play before they went offsides, they ran the same thing.”
Coming into the game, Riders kicker Brett Lauther struggled throughout much of the season, hitting on a league-worst 68.9 per cent of his field goal attempts.
Saskatchewan Roughriders slotback Sam Emilus had 142 yards in the win over the Toronto Argonauts. (Saskatchewan Roughriders/Submitted)
After missing last week with a back injury, Lauther hit all five of his field goal attempts in the game.
But Harris thought the team settled on some drives for three points instead of coming away with seven.
“They did a good job and they took away the primaries a decent amount,” Harris said. “That’s pro football — you’re not going to bat 1.000 but we were able to move the football and keep our defence off the field.”
Argos kicker Lirim Hajrullahu made all four of his field goal attempts in the game.
Saskatchewan will take on the Bombers in Winnipeg next Friday in a game the Riders could elect to rest starters in.
“There’s lot of meaningful football left. The games we have remaining and how we attack practice each week. There’s a lot of stuff for us to work on and a lot of meaningful football,” Mace said.
“However, we cook that up — be it through the week of practice or the game — it’s all going to be geared towards us getting to where we need to get to come the west final.”
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